Tag: Martin Truex Jr

Although he had been leaning toward retirement for most of the season, Martin Truex Jr. still wasn’t totally sure until he officially informed Joe Gibbs Racing a few weeks ago.

“It just took a while to think about it all,” Truex said Friday at Iowa Speedway. “It’s a big decision. It affects not just me but a lot of people, and that’s the toughest part. You don’t want to let people down.”

Truex will vacate a full-time ride in the NASCAR Cup Series after 19 seasons. The 43-year-old has spent the last six seasons driving the No. 19 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. His resume includes two NASCAR Xfinity Series championships and a Cup Series championship.

“In the 21 years that I’ve done this, I’ve never missed a race, I’ve never missed a practice, I’ve never been late for anything, I’ve never missed an appearance,” Truex said. “You live your life by a schedule that somebody makes for you, and it’s just time for me to make my own schedule. That’s really what it boils down to. I want to go do the things I want to do, and I don’t want anyone to tell me when I can and when I can’t do those things.

“I still love racing. I’m still going to race some. I don’t know what, when, how, why. I don’t know any of that yet, but I feel very fortunate to be in this position [and] to be able to make this decision on my terms. It’s something I always wanted to be able to do.”

Truex didn’t rule out running Xfinity Series races for Joe Gibbs Racing. Gibbs, who joined Truex for his press conference, said the company might be able to talk him into running some races. Furthermore, Truex will remain involved at Joe Gibbs Racing in an ambassador role, with projects and details to be figured out in the future.

“What we’re really excited about is Martin continuing with us and the future,” Gibbs said. “I’m sure I’m going to have to find [him] someplace in a boat or with Johnny [Morris] in a tree blind someplace, but we’re going to run him down. We’re excited about the future.”

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The decision to retire comes after multiple seasons of Truex going year-to-year on his contract. Why it happened now was simply because it “felt like the right time” to him. It has nothing to do with performance, although he admitted some days are more fun than others.

Truex is fifth in the Cup Series championship point standings with 10 races left in the regular season, winless entering the inaugural event at Iowa Speedway.

“I’ve thought about it a lot for the past few seasons and just waited for that feeling in my mind to be positive, like, ‘OK, I’m good; I want to do something else,’” Truex said. “Something just felt different this year for me, and I felt like it was time to slow down and do something else. It’s been a great ride, though, obviously.”

At the Cup Series level, Truex has 34 victories and a championship. In the elimination format era (2014 to present), he’s made the championship five times, won one championship, and claimed the regular season championship twice. He even has two crown jewels on his resume — wins in the Coca-Cola 600 and the Southern 500 — as part of his 48 victories across the three NASCAR national series.

“I would say I’ve achieved more than I ever thought I would,” Truex said. “That being said, there are a lot of heartbreakers and things to go back and think about like, ‘Man, if that had turned out different…’ A championship [and] three runner ups in this format [is really good].

“I’m proud of what I’ve done. I feel like I gave it everything I had, and I feel like I was really, really good at what I did, so I’m happy with that. I’m content. I feel good. I’m happy. I feel good about this.”

Martin Truex Jr. had the freshest tires for overtime on Sunday night at Kansas Speedway, and his valiant charge got him to fourth place in the AdventHealth 400.

“Just trying to find somewhere to go, you know?” Truex said. “Restarting from 10th with four tires is tough to do in two laps. I just needed to clear the 9 (Chase Elliott) a little quicker and needed to get into (Turn) 3 single file, and then I probably had a chance.

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“But we were two-wide and that made me tight off Turn 4 – couldn’t quite get the run I needed to get to the win.”

Truex was the first driver on four tires for the restart. He came off pit road in 10th position and chose to restart on the outside of the fifth row (which kept him 10th). At the white flag, Truex was in a battle for third place with Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott and cleared them both through Turns 1 and 2.

Off the final corner, coming to the checkered flag, Truex appeared to have a run on the two leaders of Kyle Larson and Chris Buescher. However, those two wound up in a photo finish and Truex was nipped at the finish line by Elliott, who ran with him side-by-side down the frontstretch.

The 402-mile race might have ended differently for Truex had it not been for the final caution. Truex, who had pitted under caution with 70 laps to go, was catching Hamlin, who was in fuel-save mode because he’d stayed out under that caution. The run started with 62 laps to go, and Truex restarted outside the top 10.

Truex moved to fifth place with 35 laps to go, was third with 10 laps to go, and overtook Larson for second place two laps later. He had nearly caught Hamlin when the caution flew with seven laps to go that sent the field down pit road for overtime. The nine drivers who came off pit road in front of Truex had all taken two tires.

“I don’t know, just frustrating,” Truex said. “We were looking really good until that last caution, as always. I don’t know what we need to do to close one out, but the guys did a good job with our Auto-Owners Camry. We were in position to steal one there.

“(We) definitely had the best car, but fought hard all night, made good decisions and made the car better and better. That was great, but always stinks when you see the lead and can’t get it.”

Truex finished seventh in the first stage and fifth in the second stage. He did not lead a lap in Sunday’s race.

Martin Truex Jr. remembers the details of his first trip to Daytona International Speedway as if it were yesterday, and marvels at how different his life was back then.

How much time has flown and how different things are — for himself and for NASCAR — is why Truex is in disbelief that he is about to make his 20th start in the Daytona 500. The first came when he qualified a third entry for Dale Earnhardt Inc. in 2006. It was his second year of running a limited schedule for the company.

“It’s changed drastically, as you could imagine,” Truex said of his life and career. “When I first got to come down here, I still couldn’t believe I was getting the opportunity. Basically, up until ’03, I never once expected or was really 100% working toward being a driver for a living. I was working — I was racing for fun, I was racing as something … I just did what I did.”

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At the time, Truex was a full-time driver for Chance 2 Motorsports in what is now the Xfinity Series. A start in the Daytona 500 was only the second time he’d competed in a NASCAR national series race at the speedway.

“I honestly was shocked when I got a call to come test a car for DEI for Chance 2,” continued Truex. “And then when I got here, I was like, ‘Damn, I can’t believe I’m here.’ I’d go in the hauler to test for the first time and my firesuit’s hanging up and I’m like, ‘I didn’t have to take that to the dry cleaners.’ That’s the kind of things I thought when I first came.

“I just remember I didn’t have to work on the car. I didn’t have to do anything but show up and drive it. It didn’t make any sense. So that’s how much has changed. It’s crazy. And now, obviously, I come here, and the only thing I want to do is win. That’s the only thing that matters. I don’t have to do anything else but come here and try to win.”

Truex has not won the Daytona 500 in 19 tries. The closest he came was inches — or one-hundredth of a second — to Toyota teammate Denny Hamlin in 2016. It’s the closest finish in Daytona 500 history.

Sunday, Truex will be behind the wheel of a Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry for the 66th running of the Daytona 500, trying once more to add a win in NASCAR’s most storied race to a résumé that already holds many significant accomplishments in the sport. At Chance 2, Truex became a two-time Xfinity Series champion. A year after losing to Hamlin in the Daytona 500, he became a NASCAR Cup Series champion.

The journey hasn’t been easy. Truex felt he should have won at least a couple more races at Dale Earnhardt Inc., and during his tenure at Michael Waltrip Racing, there were seasons of success that also should have netted more victories. Furniture Row Racing is where Truex became a champion, establishing himself as one of the sport’s top drivers.

Dale Earnhardt Inc., however, also went through turbulent times and eventually became Earnhardt Ganassi Racing before completely disappearing. Waltrip closed the doors after a race manipulation scandal rocked his organization in 2013. A year after winning the championship, Barney Visser shuttered his Furniture Row operation for financial reasons.

Truex has driven for Gibbs for six seasons and won 15 races. At no other team did Truex win as many races. And at no other team has he had such stability.

“It’s been great,” he said. “Honestly, for whatever reason, I thought about this the other day. I’ll be at JGR longer than I’ve been anywhere after this year. Which even surprised me thinking about it. I was like, DEI … wait a minute. If you count the (Xfinity) Series days, it was a little bit longer, but Cup, this is going to be where I’ve been the longest, which is surprising to me.

“It’s been nice because, yes, I don’t have to worry about anything. JGR is so stable … and every year, they’re always asking me, ‘Are you coming back? Are you coming back? We want you.’ So, it’s a lot different than the way it used to be. It’s nice not having to worry about that.”

The only concern for Truex these days is trying to win the Daytona 500 before it becomes a trip he’s made for the last time.